NCERT textbooks to replace GCERT in Classes III, V and VII

“The state government has received approval to implement NCERT textbooks to our state board. It is not that the board will be replaced with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE),” stated a senior GSHSEB official.

The STATE government is planning to replace the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) textbooks and curriculum with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks in Classes III, V and VII across the state from the academic session 2018 after debates over efficacy of Gujarat state board textbooks led by repeated poor performance of students in medical and engineering entrance exams.

This replacement would be implemented in Gujarati medium as well. For this, the translation of NCERT textbooks is under process at the Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB). Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, “The demand to adopt NCERT books has been raised from various quarters and was felt by the education department. With the NCERT curriculum in Gujarat schools, there will be uniformity of syllabus in enabling our students to stand at par with their counterparts from any part of the country.” The education department claims that these classes have been selected since they are the foundation years in the primary section.

“The state government has received approval to implement NCERT textbooks to our state board. It is not that the board will be replaced with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE),” stated a senior GSHSEB official.
Nitin Pethani, executive president of Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB) confirmed, “A few rounds of meetings have been completed for the adoption of NCERT textbooks for these three classes. Though we have one year in hand, we also have all subjects of these three classes to be translated.”

The state education department had earlier floated the project in 11 districts of Gujarat during the academic session 2016-17.